I'm A House Gangster presents The Gangstercast

Gangstercast 67 comes from the NYC legend Todd Terry.

Grammy Award nominated DJ/Producer Todd Terry has been engulfed in dance music since he first started listening to European dance music records while growing up in Brooklyn. More than any other producer, Todd Terry defined New York house during the '80s, his sound is a varied sampladelic collection, blending the sounds of classic disco, the more introspective Chicago sound plus plenty of hip-hop attitude.

Much of Terry's early work, in the late 1980s, is considered a milestone in the development of both progressive and modern deep house, and with two of the most respected crossover remixes of the house era ("I'll House You" by the Jungle Brothers and "Missing" by Everything but the Girl), Terry more than earned his title "Todd the God" . Terry’s success has followed him through the years and today Todd is one of the world’s most celebrated figures in dance music. With almost Threedecades of dance floor domination under Todd’s belt the quality of his productions goes from strength to strength

Terry produced the mix for Gangstercast 67 earlier this summer , he believes it to be one of his best old school/new school productions. He’s picked the tracks that he always play out in my live sets as they represent the best type of dance floor records, whether they’re are old or new. Terry likes to play as he puts it; ‘the best of both worlds’ meaning to play songs as well as hard tracks.

With Terry the House Gangster movement is all about the music , the raw swingy beats and good funky music.

“Right now house music is good to me, we had a big surge out of the past 3-4 years right before that I think we had some issues on what was house and not house so I am really happy where it has ended up” – Todd Terry

Gangstercast 66 comes from the up and coming Claud Santo, who throws down a selection of bangers from the I'M A HOUSE GANGSTER back catalogue.

Gangstercast 65 comes from the highly regarded New York based DJ/producer ‘DBow’

Danny “DBow” Bowman has been a feature on the New York City House scene since the early 90’s and has played alongside some of the figureheads of House music. DBow has worked with a number of labels through the years including Farris Wheel Recordings, Good For You Records and Beatdown Music.

Recently DBow has been creating remix’s for Todd Terry and his In-House Record Label, and continues to play in clubs all over NYC including the Verboten, as well as all across the US.

You might know DBow from his banger “Get Involved” that came out in the early 2000’s on Beatdown Music. The song was backed by the legendary Frankie Knuckles, who’s remix received huge commercial success on a global scale.

We asked DBow how this mix represents him as an artist, to which he responded; “Well iv been listening to this music from a really young age so the old school vibe of this mix def represents a lot of what inspired me and what I was listening to growing up”

He drives home the idea that house music is alive, well and growing from explaining what the House Gangster movement mean to him; “House Music... Low Riders... For the ladies....Party for a Living ...Just Blaze ... Always Keep hustling, Keep Grinding, Keep it real, and Keep it House.

DBow describes the House gangster sound as “a versatile mix of House on the Tougher side from Deep to Jackin to Tec with some Disco and hip hop flavours added in”. DBow exudes passion and excitement for his craft and describes House music as his life. “It’s my life really, its basically my Friend, My Wife, and my Therapist”.

Finally when telling us how he chose the tracks for this mix he described is process as slightly random, usually picking the first 2 tracks and taking it from there, just going off the vibe of what’s playing.

Filsonik has a history deeply rooted in the iconic world of New York club music and evolved as a DJ / producer out of a rich NYC house community. Born and raised in the Lower East Side, he grew up on hip hop, latin disco, and reggae music.

He was schooled from age seven as a classical pianist and as such his influences are both street and formal. His childhood neighbors were John Mateo and Eddie Matos, producers on one of the UK’s foremost deep house labels Glasgow Underground and Joe Claussell’s Spiritual Life Music. His first experience of house music was with them in the early 90’s when they asked him to play sessions keys on one of their early tracks.

His career as a producer and DJ took off in 2006 under the umbrella of New York’s veteran house DJ, Timmy Regisford of Club Shelter, a legendary weekly soulful / deep house event that ran for fifteen years. Filsonik’s signature drum programming sound which is quintessentially Latin, rhythmic but yet low-fi appears on many Regisford tracks of that period. Co-productions on Shelter’s label Unrestricted Tracks and Restricted Tracks with Regisford including “Can U” (Unrestricted Access Records), “Basic Track” (Restricted Access Records) and “Movement” (Restricted Tracks Records) set the bar for gritty, underground New York deep house of the mid 2000’s.

His remix of Alicia Key’s “POW” (Restricted Access Records) crystalized the sound of New York vocal house circa the mid 2000’s. He also saw the fruits of his labor appear on Osunlade’s Yoruba Records with Nadirah Shakoor “Love Song Part One” (Bahsonik Remix) (Yoruba Records) which was a collaborative effort with the English jazzy house producer Bah Samba.

In 2009 Argy signed the track “Diva Jaguar” for his Berlin based label These Days label and re-released the by now NYC deep house classic “Can U” as a special Argy edit. Shortly thereafter, Argy picked up a second release from Filsonik which landed on his “These Beats” compilation featuring original productions by the likes of Radio Slave and Jerome Sydenham.

As a DJ, his warmups for Regisford’s mammoth 12 hour after hours sets at the club established his name within the international house community as one of the key players in the New York house scene.

In 2006 he joined Dennis Ferrer’s Objektivity crew for a momentous day at New York’s MOMA PS1 series, an outdoors event widely captured on You Tube that also helped launch the careers of his close friends The Martinez Brothers. He has since participated in many Objektivity events as the official opener of the night.

Circo Loco, DC10, Ibiza 2011 marked a strong comeback for New York’s Filsonik after a few quiet years spent in the environs of his home town. As a close artistic collaborator of fellow NYC Puerto Rican artists, The Martinez Brothers, he spent three months filming and traveling with the boys throughout Europe in the summer of that year. Along with The Martinez Brothers, Filsonik played two times at Circo Loco at DC10 in summer 2011 and went on to do a 2012 residency in Ibiza with additional appearances at their worldwide events.

2014 was a big year for Filsonik with releases on Jamie Jones’ Hot Creations Label with “Dogfish” as well as the summer Ibiza anthem Larosa “Something Strange” (Filsonik Remix) (Not Bad). He has tracks slated for release on both Tuskegee and Cuttin’ Headz.

Filsonik is currently building the catalogue of his own label Gran Manzana with his close friend Patrick Grooves. He plays frequently alone and with The Martinez Brothers at venues and events such as BPM Festival (Mexico), Space, Miami (USA), Output, New York (USA), ReSolute, New York (USA), Spy Bar (Chicago), Stereo, Montreal (Canada), Showcase (Paris), The Arches (Glasgow), Circo Loco (Ibiza).

Filsonik sums up what house music means to him in just one word ‘DANCE’ music

Asking Filsonik what the House Gangster movement means to him; “The HG movement is completely refreshing deeply rooted in my opinion from the north part of the world and has been felt worldwide. The movement has been organic and special to see the succession and growth of it and now being a part of it just makes it that much more epic to see its development.”

Filsonik describes the House Gangster sound as “in simple terms to me is like a great plate of sneak's food delicious..The main course is raw and dirty with a side of sexiness.”

We asked Filsonik to tell us how this mix represents him as an artist, to which he replied; “This mix represents a nice variety of my favorite artists who I'm currently supporting there sound.”

Finally he gives us a little special mention about this mix; “There's a few special pieces in the mix to look out for like for example look out for some new heat from my boys Harvard Bass, Bas Ibelini,Jesse Callosso to say the least got some Bomba's coming out this Summer of 2015.”

Following his 3rd release on IAHG titled ‘True Definition’ that came out just two weeks ago, the hugely popular Belgium-based DJ/Producer Ramon Tapia, returns to the Gangstercast series this week for episode 63.

With tinges of his Latin background lacing his percussion sections and his Dutch/Belgian heritage providing the basis for his hard-grooving Techno template, his sound is one that mixes organic, tribal rhythm and syncopation and electronic machinations to potent effect.

Ramon first joined I’m A House Gangster in 2013 with his ‘Intense EP’, followed by the massive ‘House Assignment Vol.1’ in 2014, and after providing us with one of the early episodes of the Gangstercast at the start of the series two years ago, we felt the time was right to bring back Ramon, as one of our biggest IAHG players for a second Gangstercast mix.

Prepare to hear all 3 original tracks from his latest EP ‘True Definition’ featured within this mix!

Ramon describes the House Gangster sound as “Boom tchack Tsss Tsss and hey Hooooo Heyyy hooo,”and describing his own IAHG sound as a “jacking, grooving, family affair!”

In Ramon's words, the House Gangster movement is all about "one love, one family" and we can't argue with that!

Episode 62 of the Gangstercast comes from HORATIO, who is a romanian guy blessed with ambition and a great passion for music, which begun his underground musical adventure into the world with great productions , edits and mixing at the parties.

Producing, DJ'ing, and running his own record labels, HORATIO is a seasoned connoisseur of getting us to move our bodies.

Active since the 90's, the romanian producer/dj has kept his finger on the pulse of dance music strongly pinned and shown a distinct blend of stylistic fusions. Recalling sounds that attract listeners worldwide Horatio's releases have been housed by important labels like Viva Music , Desolat , Circus Recordings , Rawthentic , Bouq and Stereo Production . Horatio proves once again that Romania is a fertile ground for djs and producers and deserves his place within these imprints known for their techno / tech house and house specialties with an added organic swirl.

His talent helped him to be quickly spotted by the famous label VIVa Music. After releasing two highly succesful EPs : Sing with Swing and Ramayana (with his partners SINC) he sought to get to new heights.

Propelled by his succes Horatio and his partner in crime Katoline were chosen to remix one of the best tracks from Riva Starr – ‘I was drunk’ , this making him highly popular. His hard work in the musical production paid off since his remix for Jindo - Summer Stories was played and supported by Ricardo Villalobos and his remix for Alessio Collina - Conmigo was heavily played by Richie Hawtin in his sets.

The year 2011 proved that Horatio has begun his international ascension . His EP ‘Chicago Tales’ being charted and played by Heidi on BBC Radio1.

His latest EP called Mi Nombre (which includes a collaboration with guiness book dj Tavo and Horatio's long time musical partner Katoline) is remixed by none other then Reboot, thus tacking his name to a new height.

Horatio was nominated for the best new artist and in 2010 the highest ascension in romanian underground scene.

His gigs are marked by that original sound that you can hear only on a big DJ set with a beautiful mixing technique and high energetic tracks.

When we caught up with Him, Horatio told us that he is an oldschool vinyl collector, and so creating this Gangstercast was a great opportunity for him to dig deep into his collection, in compiling the tracks for this mix.

Horatio describes the House Gangster sound as “A great mixture of oldschool and newschool. Jackin’ grooves, soul grooves, fatgrooves, and basically any type of track that has the right raw feeling.”

Asking him to describe how this mix represents him as an artist, he told us; “I think it represents exactly the vibe that I got by listening to DJ Sneak and the rest of the crew in Ibiza. A special blend of oldschool sound with swirling hooks and a lot of soul.”

For Horatio, the House Gangster movement is “all about the ‘attitude, the proper respect that you have to give your fellow DJs/producers and people who are listening to your stuff.” Voicing his strong opinion on this, he states; “No fake hype, no sh*t, just real thing. It represents what’s truly real, and how truly should be the scene, especially the DJs and producers nowadays.”

Finally Horatio gives us a little special mention about this mix; “I tried to enter in that House Gangster spirit. I think I am very close to it due to my karate training and true feeling. Much like karate, House gangsta spirit is all about straight forward truth, no bullshits, no lies, no fake stuff. All truth and nothing but the truth for myself and for the Romanian scene I represent.”

Gangstercast 61 comes from Toronto-based House and Techno legend Carlo Lio.

Some artists are content earning the label of “overnight sensation,” while others patiently rely on hard work, dedication, and perseverance to earn the title of “everlasting sensation.” The latter is unquestionably the case for enigmatic Toronto native producer/DJ, Carlo Lio.

Originally known for leading the pack of prodigiously talented Toronto producers, Carlo has utilized his trademark cosmic house and techno sound to cement his status among today’s prodigiously talented world-renowned producers.

For proof, look no further than his remix of the‘Diablo’ track on Cocoon Recordings. One of the greatest rewards an artist can receive is to be recognized by his musical heroes, and an even greater honor occurs when those heroes ask you to remix for them. Such was the case for Carlo when Dubfire and Oliver Huntemann approached him to remix ‘Diablo’. Without hesitation, Carlo accepted this project and the resulting track not only topped the charts, but it manifested Carlo’s personal dreams in a single shot. Ever since, Carlo’s discography has exploded, with his music catching the eyes and ears of some of the biggest labels in the market – SCI+TEC, Bedrock Records, MOOD, Desolat, Suara, Intec Digital, and Mindshake Records just to name a few. And in the coming months, Lio will be releasing remixes and collaboration projects for Mathew Dear (aka Audion), DJ Sneak, Paul Ritch, Carl Cox, and Nicole Moudaber.

As talented as Carlo is in the studio, his deep pulsing tech-house and shaggy techno beats are even more powerful with captivating dancers in clubs and festivals around the globe.

With home bases in both Toronto and Barcelona, Lio effortlessly maintains the life of a superstar DJ, continuously roaming the planet for new dance floors to conquer. This year alone has Carlo billed on some of the world’s biggest events, including BPM Festival (Mexico), Digital Dreams (Canada), Audiogate (Germany), Balaton Sound (Hungary), Barrakud (Croatia), Les Plages Electroniques (France) and Music On (Ibiza).

Having no intentions of slowing down from this pace anytime soon, rest assured Carlo Lio is at the top of his game, routed straight into the international limelight with a lifetime of accolades ahead.We asked Carlo to explain to us how this mix represents him as an artist to which he replied; “Well it def shows that I'm not just a techno head. Its very easy to be labeled in this game. So this mix gave me a chance to show a bit of my roots. Touch up on some funk & Grooves.”

We caught up with Carlo himself give us a lil insight about this mix…..

Carlo describes the House Gangster sound as; “Very organic”. He says; “A ton of soul and personality and brings out the joy in people as music should.”

House music means everything to Carlo. “Without house, there is no you or me. I owe my life to house.”

Asking him in particular what the ‘house gangster movement’ meant to him, he stated; “Its about Never forgetting your roots. Its about staying to true to who you are as an artist / person and innovator!”

Telling us how he chose the tracks in compiling this mix for us, Carlo states; “Having a chance to do a 2 hour mix, i def went across the board. So i def got in some new joints but also dug back a bit and added some older favs of mine.”

Following on from his second release titled 'This Ain't No Rave' on I'm A House Gangster 2 weeks ago, Miami badboy Jesse Perez returns to the Gangstercast for episode 60.

This is Jesse's 2nd mix for the gangstercast series. Sneak is the only one who has ever done 2 mixes, but Jesse is one of our few absolute favourites who we wanted to hear more music from.

Following his 2nd release on the IAHG label with 'This ain't no rave' earlier this month, we felt the timing was right to bring him back for another episode.

We asked Jesse; "What does the House Gangster movement mean to you?"

"Its the last of the Mohicans. A movement of those who still do things because their passionate about it. Nothing short of that," says Jesse.

Asking Jesse to describe the House Gangster sound, he replies with; "It's hard to describe it in one way. I think there are many different interpretations of it. Mine is "if it don't make that ass shake,it aint gangster".

House music to Jesse simply means; "Independence in every way possible. "

Bay-Area bred DJ Mes (a.k.a. Jason Sutton) rarely slows his groove. Since the 2004 inception of his Oakland-based label, Guesthouse Music, Mes has produced a prolific catalogue of tracks that continue to scorch dance floors from east coast to west coast and across the world. As a DJ, his sets have inspired; as a producer, his tracks have shot up the charts. His mix of disco beats with bass-heavy rhythms keep him at the forefront of the underground house sound.Mes’ career dates back to the mid-1990s, when the future producer took early influence from the likes of DJ Dan (Funky Techno Tribe) and Tony Hewitt (Tango Recordings). Some two decades later, DJ Dan would even join the talent ranks of Guesthouse Music. Guesthouse has become a personal and creative labour of love for Mes, inspired by the underground house community he came from. While Mes continued releasing tracks on acclaimed labels such as Black Cherry, Magnetic and Flapjack, it was Guesthouse that set the pace. Celebrating it's 10th year last year, Guesthouse Music has put out over 300 releases since it's start, and to celebrate, Mes and crew threw ‘10 Years of Guesthouse parties’ all year long including special shows at SXSW and WMC.Mes’ ear for talent led to the unveiling of some of the most successful names in underground house, including breakout artists of 2011, J Paul Getto, who scaled the charts of Traxsource with “Need More Music” and “3000” Boundary-bending producers, such as Gramphonedzie, and classic acts, such as Cosy Creatures, DJ Sneak and The Sound Republic, exploded onto the scene under Mes’ own A&R moxie. Even while he introduced new DJs and producers to audiences, he continued creating and building his massive repertoire of banging funk-filled tracks!Traxsource honoured Mes with the top spot on a list of 100 best house tracks of 2011 following the release of the bumpy Chicago-sound behind “Fools Gold” (Cajual Recordings). In that same year, Mes followed up his seminal “Fools Gold” release (Cajual Recordings) with a second EP, “Town Business.” “Love Affair,” a rework of First Choice’s classic “Love Thang,” climbed the underground charts alongside a remix of Two Ton’s of Fun classic, “I Got the Feeling.” He continuously hit the Top 100 on both Traxsource and Beatport with other releases like "Boom Chika Boom" as well as with collaborations like "No Jet Lag" and "Wanna Do" with Sonny Fodera, "How We Do" and "Do the Freak" with Rescue, "The Bump" with DJ Dan and "Nu Grooves" with Giom.Even while maintaining a regular touring schedule throughout the U.S. and Europe, Mes continues partnering with the some of the scene’s most lauded producers, such as DJ Sneak and his own greatest influence, DJ Dan.Adds Mes: “I’m always working to sign new or undiscovered music and talent to the label, and maybe even throw a curve ball to startle people with a new, unexpected style or sound. That’s what it’s all about.”Bass. Beats. Funk. That's what Mes is all about! We, at I'm A House Gangster, took some time to talk to him briefly in regards to his special Gangstercast mix for us.... We asked Mes to explain to us how this mix represented him as an artist. He told us, “This mix showcases my diverse range and love for House Music from funky to deep to tech and jackin all together in one mix.” The House Gangster movement to Mes is “all about the music and family.” He describes the House Gangster sound as “No frills, no fuss and definitely no derp! Just funky music to get you moving on the dance floor.” House music appears to mean everything to Mes, when we asked him what it meant, to which he replied, “House Music is life. Life is music.” Asking Mes how he chose the tracks in compiling this mix, he answered, “I wanted to show broad range and not just do one sound. I tried to blend everything from funky to deep to tech and jackin.” “Thanks for Listening, I hope you dig it” adds Mes

Gangstercast 58 comes from French house DJ/producer ‘Giom’

‘Funky, eclectic, quirky, smooth, melodic, yet always bumpy with a solid groove…’ It’s not easy trying to define the sound that Giom has created for himself over the years but when you attend one of his energetic DJ sets, sample one of his many remixes or dance to one of his chart-topping #1 singles, the message becomes clear: Giom is here to make you move your feet.

And maybe that’s why the London-based Frenchman’s music has been supported by such an impressive list of the world’s best DJs, from the underground kings to the big room soldiers, from Fedde Le Grand to DJ Sneak, Green Velvet to Joey Negro, David Vendetta to Jimpster, Mark Knight to Grant Nelson, Sharam Jey to Kolombo, it seems everybody needs a bit of the Giom sound in their DJ sets.

In the Summer of 2014, his song “Dr. Zapp" topped the Beatport Indie / NuDisco Top 100 and to this day still remains in the Top 50. And at the end of 2014, Giom was Beatport’s 25th most downloaded Nu Disco artist and was voted Traxsource’s 29th most important Deep House artist of the year.

Giom has worked, released, toured and collaborated with the likes of Riva Starr, Joey Negro, Fred Everything, Loulou Records, Toolroom and Defected Records. He has also headlined some of the world’s best clubs such as Fabric (London), Privilege (Ibiza), LIV (Buenos Aires), 360 (Dubai) and has performed in over 30 countries.

Away from house music, Giom’s preferred spot is behind the drum kit, which has seen him touring and recording for the likes of Alice Russell, The Nextmen and Kasabian.

Asking Giom how this mix represented him as an artist, he commented; “This mix is old school, mixed with new school, vinyl and digital, sexy, funky, silly, French and quite laid back. Like me!”

Giom describes the House Gangster sound as “an urban/ghetto/attitude take on the sound we all love”

When we asked Giom, What does House music mean to you? He replied with, “House music is something I can't explain, it's a feeling, a hypnotic groove, it's a movement. I mean, even bad house music makes me want to dance, that's how much I love it.”

Telling us how he compiled this mix, he says, “I chose tracks that reminded of how I felt when I used to listen to DJ Sneak many years ago, but also some that represent me today and try to showcase who I am and what I'm about.”